HUTCHINSON, Kan. – For just the third time in program history, the Cloud County Community College men's basketball team has earned a win in Hutchinson as the T-Birds knocked off number-eight nationally ranked Hutchinson by a final score of 87-82 inside the Hutchinson Sports Arena on Wednesday, January 19th.
 
Picking up a second-straight win inside the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference, the T-Birds are now 9-10 overall and 5-8 in the KJCCC while Hutchinson drops just their third contest of the year to fall to 17-3 overall and 11-3 in conference. Cloud County's last win against Hutchinson came back on December 12th, 2018, by a score of 72-64 in Concordia while the last win in Hutchinson was a 75-50 victory on January 31st, 2007. The T-Birds would also earn a win in 1978 by a score of 95-90 over the Blue Dragons.  
 
Not waiting for the high-flying offense of Hutchinson to try and take control early, Cloud County would jump out to a quick 5-0 lead as Joe Kearney would knock down a game-opening trey that would be followed up by a Corey Sawyer Jr. layup as the T-Birds would lead 7-2 after two minutes of play. The T-Bird lead would bounce around from two to six points for the next six minutes of action as the Blue Dragons would not be able to stop an efficient CCCC offense that would find multiple open looks and convert on the opportunities.
 
Six straight points from HCC would allow the Blue Dragons to tie things up at 17-17 with 11:48 left in the first half, but Sawyer Jr. would put the T-Birds back on top with a quick response with a layup on the ensuing Cloud County possession. Hutchinson would eventually manage to claim their first lead of the game at 25-23 on a Zavion McClendon triple with just over nine minutes remaining in the first period but would hold the lead for all of 21 seconds as Kearney would knock down another three to put the T-Birds back on top. The Cloud County lead would grow to seven at 36-29 with just over five minutes left in the half but the Blue Dragons would manage to get back within two on three separate occasions and hold Cloud County to just a four-point advantage after 20 minutes of play.
 
CCCC and HCC would trade layups to open the second half before seeing the Blue Dragons go on a 10-0 run to take their largest lead of the game at 50-44. With momentum starting to swing in favor of host Hutchinson, a Zion Obanla dunk would spark a 12-1 run by the T-Birds as Cloud County would lock down defensively and hold the Blue Dragons scoreless for nearly four minutes and without a field goal for over six minutes of game action.
 
An offensive rebound and put back from Sawyer would match Cloud County's first-half lead of seven at 60-53 with 9:33 left in the game as the T-Birds would continue to torch the nets offensively and not allow Hutchinson to attempt any type of comeback. The CCCC lead would grow to double-digits with 6:24 left in the game on a layup from Obanla in transition. The potent HCC offense would have a response by scoring the next seven points to get back within four heading into the final five minutes of play, but a determined Cloud County squad would not let the Blue Dragons get any closer as the two-possession lead would hold over the next two minutes. Looking to put the game away, the T-Birds would start to eat away the clock on the offensive end while running through their offensive sets that would lead to more open looks as a pair of layups from Justin Graham and Sawyer Jr. would make it a double-digit lead again with 1:27 left as CCCC would start to sense victory in the grasp. With Hutchinson being forced into fouling to try and extend the game, Cloud County would not let the moment get the best of them as free-throw shooting would prevent HCC from cutting into the lead. Hutchinson would be unable to get any closer than seven until a last-second jump shot that would not affect the outcome of the game with the T-Birds avenging their five-point loss earlier in the year to Hutchinson by earning a five-point win of their own.
 
Shooting 10 percent better than their previous season-high, Cloud County would shoot 62 percent (31-of-50) from the field while also hitting on 50 percent (four-of-eight) of their three-point attempts and going to the line 34 times while converting 21 attempts (61.8 percent). Hutchinson would be held to a 35.9 percent (28-of-78) shooting percentage and 22.9 percent (eight-of-35) outing from three while being held 15 points under their season average in scoring. Despite being outscored 29-13 in second-chance points, the T-Birds would outscore the Blue Dragons 54-36 in points in the paint and turned 19 HCC turnovers into 20 points.
 
A career night for Sawyer Jr. would see the Oviedo, Florida native go for 31 points and four rebounds as the freshman would miss just three total shots on the night while going a perfect 11-for-11 from the free-throw line which included a seven-of-seven performance in the second half. Savian Edwards would score 14 points off the bench and assist on two buckets while Kearney would score 12 of his 13 total points in the first half and provided a career-high five assists. Hutchinson would have three starters reach double-figures and be led by a team-high 18 points from Kaimen Lennox in 31 minutes of action.
 
 
What's Next?
A chance for their second-longest winning streak of the year will come on Saturday, January 22nd as Cloud County will head to Independence to take on the Independence Community College Pirates for a 4 PM matchup. Independence knocked off number 23 Colby by a score of 87-68 to snap a five-game losing streak and improved to 8-12 overall and 5-9 in the KJCCC.